Resistance - Arc 1: The Flight
Resistance - Arc 1: The Flight is the first story arc of the ongoing Resistance (2020 series) series. It takes place right after the flotilla of Wedge Antilles saved Leia Organa and the last remaining members of the Resistance. Issues Issue #1 General Antilles was on the bridge of the Admirality in Hyperspace when Zay Meeko and Shriv Suurgav enter the bridge. Zay thanks Wedge for picking them up after they got attacked by the First Order and Wedge tells them not to worry. They need to figure out their next move. At that moment the emergency transmission of Leia Organa comes in from Crait asking for anyone in the galaxy to listen and come to their aid on Crait. Wedge connects to the other MC45 Escort Frigates, telling them to prepare to change course to Crait, their allies need their help. Zay hops they can get there in time and Wedge agrees with her. He tells the two of them he has two T70 X-Wing Starfighters waiting for them and he wants them to use it. One of his aides Zajia Zokum says they are about to come out Hyperspace, but they find the remains of the Mega-class Star Dreadnought of Supreme Leader Snoke. Wedge sends Zajia down there with a team, while Shriv assists Wedge's other crew to track down the jump point of the Millenium Falcon and whereto it went. When Zajia and her team return from the wreckage but conclude there is not much more to be found. Wedge then takes Shriv and Zay down to the surface of Crait to see whether they can find any survivors. There they run into a First Order platoon and while their team manages to stay hidden, they do see the First Order Snowtroopers march a few remaining survivors including General Ematt away into awaiting Atmospheric Assault Landers. While Zay wants to free them, Wedge stops her, saying there is nothing they can do for them now and they return to their transport and return to the Admirality, who had been waiting in the shadow of the wreckage of the Supremacy. When they return Zaji reveals to Wedge that they found out where the Millenium Falcon jumped to, to a planet named Ione and Wedge orders them to prepare to jump there immediately. As they make the jump, Wedge just hopes they'll be there in time. A little while later Zajia alerts him to the fact that they are going to come out of Hyperspace and Wedge has Zay and Shriv board their X-Wings and lead the charge against the most likely waiting First Order ships. As they come out of Hyperspace, Wedge orders everyone to battle stations and prepare to open fire on the First Order! Issue #2 As the flotilla led by Wedge Antilles drops out of Hyperspace, they take the First Order by surprise and Zay Meeko and Shriv Suurgav lead the X-Wings in battle. One of Zay's wingmates is the hotheaded Olla Gusburr, a male Chagrian, who is eager to get into the fight with the First Order. They fly cover for the Millenium Falcon who attempts to escape the crippling chase of First Order TIE Fighters and thanks to Zay and Shriv and their squadron they manage to break them free. Gusburr leads the rest of their squadron against a nearby Star Destroyer, taking out their deflector shields first with ion pulses and then destroying the hangar defenses. Wedge then sends a boarding party aboard an U-Wing and have them intifltrate the Star Destroyer to retrieve the latest locator data. The squad aboard the U-Wing are told they are to separately jump to Hyperspace and to rendezvous once they have succeeded. The squad is led by Zajia Zokum and she is proud to personally lead the squad, yet told by Gusburr to be carefull, revealing that they are romantic partners. As the Millenium Falcon makes its way to the Admirality, Wedge recalls the rest of the starfighters, saying they have what they came for. As the Admirality jumps, the team led by Zokum makes its way unseen by the First Order forces to one of the data storage levels to get the locator data. On their way to the data storage levels, one of her squad members nearly screws up when that squadmate wants to take revenge for their fallen friends. In the end they are forced to deactivate various BB-X Patroller Droids to avoid detection but are able to get to the terminal where the locator data is located. They succesfully download the locator data, but this alerts Ship Security to their presence. In the meantime Poe Dameron, Connix and Rey are met by Wedge in the hangar and he is thanked by them for saving them. Zay and Shriv also meet them, but Poe and Rey do not recognize either of them. The three surviving members of the Resistance are then asked by Wedge to take him to Leia and they lead him into the Falcon. Zokum and her squad make their way back to the hangar, but now are cut off by dozens of First Order Stormtroopers. Zokum and a few others are entrusted with the locator data while the remainder of the squad give them a chance to escape and hold off the advancing Stormtroopers. Zokum and her few fellow mates make their way to the U-Wing, but while she holds off the advancing troops and the others enter, the U-Wing is blown up and Zokum knocked unconscious. When she wakes up she is strapped to a chair and in front of her is Agent Tierny of the First Order Security Bureau who tells her they are going to have a chat. Wedge is led to the bed where Leia was resting and both Leia and Wedge are happy to see each other again. Wedge says that Hosnian V was taken out, they have no base. Leia gives him her locator, saying to follow these coordinates. There is a base that no-one knows off. Issue #3 Zajia Zokum and her squad are lined up and pulled away by First Order SB Stormtroopers in ranks with their escape craft destroyed. Tierny tells them there is no way they will go back to the Resistance and they are to be subjected to the Security Bureau's Tribunal. While transferred to the holding area, Zokum meets General Ematt, who is not pleased to see more Resistance members held captive. Zokum tells him at least the fleet got out, but Ematt is not happy and tells them they need to find a way out of this when they can. In the meantime aboard the Admirality, Wedge has his technicians check out the coordinates, while Olla Gusburr meets with him, asking what they are going to do about the squad that went to get the locator data that has gone dark. Wedge tells him the squad will be fine, he should put faith in the cunning and ability of Zokum, who at that very moment is led to a certain death with Ematt. Ematt tells her that when she gets the time, she should make for an escape to get to a transport. He'll give her the chance. Aboard the Admirality, Shriv Suurgav and Tycho Celchu enter the bridge when Wedge recieves the results of a scan that he ordered of the coordinates and they result into him realizing that they are coordinates for a planet in the Outer Rim. Shriv assures him that the General knows what she is talking about and that he should have faith in her decision and Wedge tells him that it is not just that he doesn't have faith in her decision, it is that he knows that place. As Agent Tierny leads them to the brig, Ematt signals to Zokum to get ready as Ematt and the other captives turn on the First Order Troopers and manage to disarm a few Troopers. Ematt takes a blaster from one of the Stormtroopers and points it at Tierny. Zokum then sneaks away and Ematt is about to shoot, when he is shot down by another Stormtrooper. Ematt says the spark of Resistance has already been lit, the galaxy is fighting back and Tierny turns a blaster on him, killing him instantly. Tierny orders the ship to enact ship scans to see where the traitor has gone too, but the first scans do not reveal anything, leading to Tierny to realize that the traitor may be in the vents of the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer. She orders her Stormtroopers to send BB-X Patrollers into the vents to hunt the traitor down. As it turns out, Zajia is not in the vents, but rather in an abandoned comms station, where she attempts to find an escape craft capable of Hyperspace jumps. She finds one, but she'll need to get through the pilot quarters in order to get to the hangar. She makes her way down to the armory, where she nearly bumps into a group of TIE Fighter Pilots, but manages to evade them and gear up in TIE Fighter Pilot gear. Able to blend in now, she makes her way through the pilot quarters and towards the aft hangar, but nearly runs into a group of First Order Stormtroopers. Acting normally, she is not noticed, except by one of the Stormtroopers, FN-1119. FN-1119 breaks away from his squad, claiming that he needs to check something. He silently follows Zajia towards the hangar to which she is heading, but she finds out about him following her. She corners him and knocks him down, demanding to tell her the clearance codes of the hangar or die, but FN-1119 fights back. Zajia realises that FN-1119 has no intention of killing her like their orders are and she uses this to her advantage to finally knock him out and get into the TIE/SF Starfighter that she was looking for. Being short one wingmate, she for a moment eyes the Stormtrooper she knocked out, but in the end decides to launch single. She manages to break away from the Star Destroyer, but Tierny realizes that Zajia hijacked a TIE Fighter. Tierny calls in a First Order Interdictor Cruiser to lock down the system and prevent the TIE Fighter from escaping. Zajia is then forced to face down the Destroyer and Cruiser on her own. The Admirality and her flotilla drops out of Hyperspace at their location. Gusburr, Shriv and Zay are surprised to find out that they are above Hoth! Leia says after the Empire fell and the New Republic refused to do anything about the First Order, she and her allies decided to reactivate the old Rebel base on Hoth in case of emergency. As Wedge positions the flotilla in the shadow of the planet, he orders his personel to start ferrying gear, equipment and supplies down to the planet. Gusburr then asks Wedge whether he can take a cruiser and find Zajia, but Wedge refuses to hand him a cruiser but does allow him to take a small corvette to retrieve Zajia. As Wedge steps aboard a shuttle himself, he tells Tycho to set the beacon, the rest should know where they are. Issue #4